The Digi Shack Sketch Challenge (TDSC03)

Here's my take on the sketch challenge over at The Digi Shack. I had a lot of fun making this card because I got to play with some of my new things from the Creating Keepsakes Convention in St. Louis. I walked around the showroom in a heavenly daze. I just loved everything & it was very hard to limit my purchases. Plus this fun image from the Digi Shack is just adorable, don't you think?

Fellow design team member, Mandy, gave us this sketch to create a card. Won't you play along too?

Here is the deets on my card:

The DP is a newer one from Basic Grey called Euphoria; summer patterns of lavender and pinks mixed with "willow green and lagoon blue". Although I don't usually go for purples, this set of papers struck my fancy. It was mounted on Perfect Plum cardstock. The image is from The Digi Shack; it was colored and cut out. Glitter was added to the nexklace and glaze to the nail polish. The hair flowers had crushed velvet flock. The brad seemed to match perfect although it was made by a different company. The purple twill was covered with lavender sheer ribbon to soften the intense color. What do you think?

Recipe:

Image: Birthday Ellie (The Digi Shack)

Paper: Perfect Plum, Pale Plum (SU!), DP- Euphoria (Basic Grey)
Ink: Markers- Pale Plum, Perfect Plum, Tempting Turquoise, Going Gray

Accessories: Purple Twill (Karen Foster), Flower Brad (Creative Imaginations), Sheer lavender ribbon, Turquoise and Purple Crushed velvet flock for flowers (Doodlebug), glitter and glaze pens (jelly roll-Sakura)

Teacher Thanks

This card was made for this week's Splitcoaststampers (SCS) Sketch Challenge (SC226). Roxie, the hostess of this challenge, always finds the best sketch's and this one was from Wendybell. She is an expert stamper; here's her card and here is Roxie's card. I started doing the challenges on SCS in January 2007. More than anything else, it was SCS that helped me develop my cardmaking skills>>I'd read what others were doing, play the challenges, and view the 'galleries' for hours. I learn so much from all the talented artists there that I make it a habit to spend time there every day & hours on the weekend.

My youngest daughter is finishing her last year of high school with finals ending next week. She gets so busy & focused with her studies that inevitably on the day or two before school lets out, she comes to me for presents and cards. This year I will be prepared with gift cards to bookstores and teacher thank you's.

The card was made with a Real Red (RR) base, topped with Whisper White. Summer Picnic is the retired Designer Series Paper (DSP); it's called Summer Picnic and was from last year's Occasions mini catalog. The DSP is mounted on Real Red. The corners of the top layer of DSP were rounded with the retired SU! corner rounder. The apple was stamped with Real Red craft ink and embossed with Crystal Clear powder. I mounted it on several layers of scalloped circles and circles using SU! punches and Nestability scallop circles & loads of SU!dimensionals. {Of all the foam adhesives, I love the SU dimensionals the best because the pieces are pre-cut, small and easy to get off the backing. Plus quite a reasonal price!} The bottom layer of scallops is dotted using a RR marker. The sentiment is "elegant Thank you" and is from the current catalog 'under $10' page. I did not want the scrolls so I used my marker to color the 'thank you'. I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to get perfect placement.

Have a great day!

Recipe:

Stamps: Tart and Tangy, Elegant Thank you (SU-Solo stamp)
Paper: Real Red, WW, DSP-Summer Picnic (retired)
Ink: Real Red (craft), RR marker

Accessories: Scallop punch, Circle punches, Scallop nesties, crystal clear stampin' emboss powder

Great Friend = Mother

Some Sundays I am really amazed that there is featured Splitcoaststamper (SCS) member that I don't know considering how much time as I spend on SCS. Today was one of those days~ and Wattle's (aka Kathy's) gallery is so lovely~ what a discovery treat.

Here is the card I made for the Featured Stamper Challenge (FS116).

The FS challenge is so fun~ basically you case a card while changing at least two things from that 'Featured Stamper's' gallery. I based my card on Kathy's Gum Blossoms card. I kept Kathy's layout, the three brads and the paper piercing. I changed the stamps, the colors, added ribbon and eliminated the sentiment tag.

This card was realitively easy although there are quite a few layers. The base is Baja Breeze (A2 size), then a layer of Sahara Sand, Very Vanilla, and the last layer on the base is the new SU! Designer Series Paper (dsp) called 'Walk in the Park" from the Occasions Mini catalog. There are 3 brads from the Vanilla HodgePodge Hardware collection in the upper right corner. The 4 sides of the DSP are paper pierced. {I just love this DSP because it has nice spring-summer colors in floral and silhouette patterns which are so trendy fun and great for gals plus there are geometric patterns in colors that are great for guys.}

The larger top layer is Sahara Sand, Cameo Coral, Baja Breeze with a half size piece of 'Walk in the Park' dsp. A single piece of Baha Breeze 5/8" striped grosgrain ribbon is wrapped around the top layer and the base layer. The smaller top layer is Baja Breeze, Cameo Coral and Very Vanilla with Cameo Coral sponged edges. The top layer image is two parts and from the new stamp set called "Great Friend" found in the Occasions Mini Catalog. The first part is a frame which is stamped on Vanilla cardstock in Baja Breeze and cutout; the second part is a cutout Cameo Coral butterfly (on Very Vanilla). Two other cutout butterflys flank the central image. And in the bottom right stamped in Baja Breeze is the "Happy Mother's Day" sentiment from the "All Holidays" stamp set.

That's it...pretty easy but it takes a little more time than the average card due to the number of layers. Thanks for stopping by. Have a great week!

Recipe:

Stamps: Great Friend, All Holidays
Paper: Baja Breeze, Sahara Sand, Very Vanilla, Cameo Coral, DSP- Walk in the Park
Ink: Camel Coral, Baja Breeze
Accessories: Baja Breeze 5/8 striped grosgrain ribbon, Vanilla HPH

Blog Candy Winner

The lucky winner for the Blog Candy is Kim. Congratulations, Kim!

Challenges!

Here's a card I made for this week's SCS sketch challenge (SC225) and the color challenge (TDSC02) going on over at The Digi Shack. Mandy hosted this week; she choose going gray, summer sun and certainly celery. My immediate reaction was 'yuk' {sorry Mandy} but the cards are really quite pretty. And that is why I like color challenges so much; it gets me out of the same 'ole rut. It's a pretty combo after all, Mandy...sorry for doubting you.

The image is from The Digi Shack. It is called 'dog-gone b-day'. I colored the dog with my SU going gray marker. Added a little color to his hat and cupcake with SS & CC. The dog was masked and then the white background was distressed with Summer Sun.

If you haven't already, make a comment on my blog candy. I'll be picking a winner on Saturday. I stopped by Michael's this evening after work and have a few more small things to add so you don't want to miss out. I'll update the blog candy picture tomorrow.

Have a great Friday!

Recipe:

Digital Image: Dog-gone b-day (The Digi Shack)
Paper: Summer Sun, Basic Gray, Certainly Celery, WW, DP- Cornflower (We R Memory Keepers)
Ink: Markers- Going Gray, Basic Gray, Summer Sun, Certainly Celery
Accessories: Corduroy Buttons
Techniques: Masking

Hello Baby!

I spent most of the day cleaning the studio~ man, am I ever happy! Things were totally out of control. I was able to reorganize, put scraps away, put away some new buys and I am now able to find all my tools. I also found my pink pirouette cardstock which was missing for this weeks SCS color challenge. I am a little bummed though because I can't find one of my oval scallop nesties. I hope it turns up.

After all that cleaning, I made use of the open horizontal surfaces to make this card on Sunday afternoon for my daughter, Laura. She needs a baby card for a shower next Saturday. Since the mother-to-be does not know the baby's gender, we went neutral. I used some of the retired Cutie Pie designer series paper from Stampin' Up. It was from last spring-summer catty, but regardless of it's retired status, I just love it. I suppose it is the colors, as BB and CC are two of my favorites. I've vowed to quit holding onto my favorites 'cuz there are more new favorites that come along. I still have some Wild Wasabi which I'm trying to finish up with holiday cards. What do you do with the retired SU product?

Anyway...two top note dies were used, both were cut to fit. The white notch up was lined up with the blue notch for symmetry. Tiny adhesive pearls were placed on the blue flowers. For the large grommet, the placement spot was marked by pushing down on the gromment to make small indentations and then the grommet was removed. Next the piercing tool was used to punch thru all the layers at the marked spots; and then the grommet was placed with a bone folder. The SU! gromments will go right thru one layer of cs, however on this card there were several layers so the piercing tool was used to prevent bending the grommet. Then a little bit of the 5/8" So Saffron grossgrain ribbon was added {from the Sale-a-bration catalog}; a loose knot and glue holds it in place.

Light coloring on the image and then the Stamp-a-ma-jig was utilized for the word placement. I almost always use the SAMJ for phrases on the front of cards. It assures the words will be exactly where I want.

As always, your comments and hellos are appreciated! Have a great day, friends!

Stamps: Fun and Fast Notes
Paper: Bashful Blue, So Saffron, WW, Wild Wasabi (retired), DSP- Cutie Pie (retired)
Ink: Wild Wasabi, Barely Banana, Pretty in Pink, Certainley Celery (markers); Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Accessories: Top Note die, Jumbo Grommets (SU), So Saffron 5/8 grosgrain ribbon, mini faux pearls (Michaels)

Pulling for You

Here's my take on the Featured Stamper Challenge on Splitcoaststampers. The FS was Jaymerz; she has one awesome gallery. I chose this card to case. I kept the sketch and the row of three brads. I eliminated the ribbon, added paper piercing and changed the image, sentiment and colors.

I chose this wonderful image from The Digi Shack. I've already blabbed about how much I love being able to print the image whatever size I want so I won't carry on again. I made the sentiment on the computer using Angelina font. The paper is from the Offbeat collection from Basic Grey. The brads are BG too. I really love BG designer papers and especially this collection as it is funky fun {just as the name implies}!

I watercolored the image using my aquapainter and ink. The bird was painted first in Baja Breeze and then light layer of Pacific Point on top; a little darker around the edges. The beak was colored with a marker first, then with ink and aquapainter. The "Early Bird's" eyes were colored with a light hand using barely banana marker.

Congratulations Jamie! Enjoy your day!

Digital Image- "The Early Bird" from The Digi Shack
Paper: Pacific Point, Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip, WW (SU!), DP- Offbeat (Basic Grey)
Ink: Pacific Point, Baja Breeze, Summer Sun, Barely Banana, Close to Cocoa
Accessories: Sentiment-Computer generate- font- Angelina; brads (Basic Grey); paper piercing, watercoloring with aqua painter

Cheers!

Here's the card I did tonight for the SCS sketch challenge (SC224) and the color challenge (cc214) from yesterday. For the color challenge, I used Pretty in Pink, So Saffron, and Bordering Blue. The image is from The Digi Shack. I colored the image with markers and then added crystal effects to the drink glass (where the yellow coloring is located) to give it a wet look. The ribbon has a little glitz~ silver thread running through the pink.

I created the 3-d umbrella by printing the tropical drink glass image twice and colored both twice with bordering blue marker. Next I cut out one umbrella. I folded along the umbrella's lines; then added my adhesive at the edges so it would lay 'poofed up'.

Scroll down for information on how to get free images from The Digi Shack. Oh yea- make sure you enter my blog candy contest!

Have a great Thursday!

The Digi Shack- Free Download Sketch Challenge Contest

So here's the sketch that I used yesterday from Digi Shack. We are hosting the very first ever SKETCH CHALLENGE! It’s free to enter and you could WIN 5 FREE downloads of your choice!
Here's the deal: Use the Cherry blossom image and this sketch. Then upload your card created with this image and this sketch to either your blog or your online gallery, please use KEYWORD: TDSSC01 when uploading to your online gallery.
Then pop on over here to this post and leave a comment with a link to either your blog or your gallery upload.
All entries must be posted by midnight on April 21st.

The Digi Shack gave away a beautiful image of cherry blossoms free; although it is no longer free you can purchase it (just click the link below). It is the one I used yesterday for the sketch challenge happening over at the Digi Shack.

Here's the link to The Digi Shack

Cherry Blossoms

I love Spring and the beauty of the flora coming to life. Recently, I was in Washington DC for business and felt so fortunate to see the cherry trees in full bloom. So you can image how thrilled I was to recieve this image from Toni at The Digi Shack.

To celebrate the grand opening, you can download this cherry blossom image free. No kidding! :)
If you want a chance to win 5 free downloads, use this FREE image along with the Sketch posted on The Digi Shack website. When posting to SCS or PCP, please use the keyword TDSSC01.

For more deets, hop over to The Digi Shack.

Recipe:
Stamps: Digital image- Cherry Blossom (The Digi Shack), Sentiment- Believe (Studio g- series 6-VS4911)
Paper: Pink Pirouette, Sahara Sand, Regal Rose, WW(SU!), Designer- The Paper Stack-Matchmakers 2 (DCWV)
Ink: Pink Pirouette, Sahara Sand, Regal Rose, Mellow Moss (SU)
Accessories: Nestabilities - scallop and oval, scallop oval and small oval punches (SU), white brads (Paper Studio)
Techniques: watercoloring

This card was super easy but took a little while to assemble because of all the layers. I wanted to use my scallop nestie for The Digi Shack sketch challenge so I measured my nestie and then sized my cherry blossom digital image on the computer so it would fit in the scallop circle...next I loaded the printer with cardstock , and hit 'print'. Voila! I love that I can size the images according to the size of my project. Isn't that so cool?! I've been thinking about my next party- it will be awesome to have matching invitations, party favors, paper napkin rings, yada, yada, yada...using the same image just sized according to project. I have as much fun prepping for the party as I do at the party! {oh I digressed...sorry}

My favorite technique for coloring is ink and a blender pen. I like the fine point of the blender and using ink allows the ability to layer and blend easily. Most of the time I squeeze my SU ink pads so that the ink pad leaves ink on the lid; then I open it up and pick up that 'lid' ink with my blender pen and transfer to my image. The squeeze technique is also a good way to determine when it's time to re-ink your pad; if your lid looks virtually dry, better get out those lil' bottles. For the flowers, I colored them all with pink pirouette. Then, in the natually shaded areas I added two more layers (one at a time) of pink pirouette. The flower's centers recieved a little Regal Rose and a touch of Summer Sun with the fine tip of the SU! marker. Maybe someday I'll like copics as much as do blender pen watercoloring.

For the brads, I measured and pencil marked the intervals and the center on the opposite side of the pink cardstock {it looked like a little grid} then punched and threaded the brads. I hardly every free lance brad or eyelet placement anymore...I've resigned myself to the fact that I need to measure. {that was probably after the 10th ruined card! LOL!} Cheers to those who can hold a handheld circle punch without trepidation!

Thanks for dropping by and have a super day!!

Blog Candy Giveaway 4/25

In celebration of being selected as a Digi Shack Design Team member, I'm giving away blog candy.
UPDATE: 4-24-09 I've added three more items to this blog candy give-away.

Here is the candy list:

• Expressions-Set of 9 Clear stamps from Inkadinkado


• 2 Heart stamps from Stampabilities


• 5 rolls of Paper studio ribbon 'spools' in pink and brown to match the glitter paper


• 48 sheets of glitter 8 X 8 paper in pack by My Mind's Eye

ADDED 4-24-09

• Butterfly Ribbon from Micahel's Dashes, Dots and Checks collection
• Cupcake Stamps from Studio g
• Graduation Stamps from Studio g

Comment on this post and you'll be entered to win. I'll draw for the lucky winner on Saturday, 4/25 at midnight. Good luck!

Congratulations on your new home-The Digi Shack

Here is one of the digital images available from The Digi Shack. Once you purchase an image, you recieve the digital copy to store on your computer. No running to the store for stamps or waiting for your UPS delivery. Talk about instant gratification! One of the best things is that you can resize the image according to your needs. For this card, I chose to print 5.25 wide and the computer automatically adjusts the opposite dimension (in this case height) so that the image maintains equal proportion. Pretty cool, huh?
The clouds were made using Cindy's cloud technique (aka Mothermark on SCS). She made a video posted on her blog: http://mothermark.blogspot.com/2008/...pvideo_18.html . And although not quite Cindy's clouds, I think I am getting the hang of it.
Recipe:
Image: New Home Congrats- The Digi Shack
Paper: Brillant Blue, Bashful Blue, Whisper White, Black
Ink: SU! markers, Dove pen, Copic markers, Bashful Blue ink, Certainley Celery
Accessories: Scallop punch (SU), Paper Lace (Creative Imaginations), cloud template

The Digi Shack Design Team

I promised to share exciting news on Monday. Well, it is 30 minutes away from Monday and I just can't wait any longer. I have been selected to be a member of The Digi Shack design team. I am super thrilled and can't wait to start showing you the wonderful creations made with these digital images. {I actually started playing with the images tonight and was having so much fun that I didn't save time to make the cards!} Aside from the great images, I get to work with a fantastic group of awesome artists. Check out both with the sidebar links.

Come back tomorrow night for a preview of a Digi Shack card. Plus, later this month, I'll be giving away blog candy to a lucky follower. It will have some great stuff including my two favorites~ paper and ribbon. Who knows what else I'll find.

Happy Easter! I hope you enjoy your day. Come back tomorrow for some exciting news! And to celebrate the exciting news, I will have some blog candy to give away.

This card was made for the Splitcoast Inspirational Challenge (IC175); use something from the Grandin Road site to inspire you. I chose this image of pillows ( Grandin Road pillow) because I love the colors yellow, blue and green and the texture. I chose some very old images from SU! The set is called Spring Gifts~ and although old, I just love the images especially the bunny faces.

Recipe:

Image: Spring Gifts (retired-Stampin' Up)

Paper: Gable Green, Summer Sun, DSP- retired prints pack, WW (all SU)

Ink: Black, markers (SU)

Accessories: Summer Sun cordoray buttons (SU), Blender pen (Dove), Forrest Branches embossing folder (Cuttlebug)